Aspiring Landlord looking for some advice.

[Michael LoCicero]

Hello everyone,

First off, thank you to everyone who is part of this community. What a great opportunity for an aspiring landlord like myself. I'll start by explaining my long-term goals, current situation and a potential plan.

I'm looking to acquire a handful of rental properties by the time I retire, so I can live off the renting income and use my minimum distributions on my retirement account to further invest, and potentially acquire more real-estate. In other words, I want to work for myself when I retire, building more wealth to pass on to my children.

My current situation is own my condo in north jersey, and have a considerable amount of equity built up. In roughly two years, I'm looking to buy larger home, perhaps a bit more towards central jersey, and instead of selling my condo, I'd like to rent it out(my first rental!). I'm currently saving the down payment now, and I expect to be able to put at least 10% down when we're ready to buy. The condo is in a high-demand area, and small enough where it's perfect for a couple starting off. 

So, that's the theory. That's the general plan. The problem is, I have no idea what I'm doing :). During the next couple of years, I want to start leaning what it takes to become a Landlord. The beginning of this process is joining this forum, and asking advice from experienced Landlords who have been doing it for some time. Should I start with a particular set of books? Is there a website that allows you to plug in numbers and perform the cash-flow analysis? I don't know what I don't know. I'm not even sure what questions to ask to be honest. Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated. 

THANK YOU!

-Mike

[Bill Hampton]

Mike,

Welcome to Bigger Pockets. Bigger Pockets is a great place for education and networking. 

I recommend that you check out the following resources:

1. Start by reading the Ultimate Real Estate Investing Guide: https://www.biggerpockets.com/guides/ultimate-real-estate-investing-guide/introduction

2. Check out other online guides available here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/guides

3. Take a look at BP's blog where new articles are published every day: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog

4. If you want to network or ask specific questions about your local market, go to your local real estate forum and connect with investors from your area: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/86-local-real-estate-networking

5. You can meet local investors by registering to attend real estate events in your area: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521-events-and-happenings

6. BP has various tools to help you analyze your deals (rentals, flips, wholesale, etc). : https://www.biggerpockets.com/investment-calculators

7. If you can't find what you're looking for, try the Bigger Pockets Fileplace. It contains hundreds of files such as ebooks, checklists and spreadsheets for real estate investors: https://www.biggerpockets.com/files 

8.Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

Good luck investing.